1/14/2013 TO 1/26/2013
With the winds dying down enough to release Quest from being
pinned to the Little Farmer’s Cay dock, we found ourselves more than ready to
be back out cruising the sheltered Bahamas Bank and spending a few night
moored. Today’s travels brought us past
Cave Cay with its relatively new marina that we must check out in the near
future, Musha Cay that is owned by David Copperfield, Rudder Cut Cay, Darby
Island, way in the distance we glimpsed Goat Cay owned by Tim McGraw, Block
Cay, Leaf Cay with it population of pink iguanas and Normans Pond Cay before
completing our 23 NM journey and arriving at Lee Stocking Island.
After calling out several times to the Perry Institute of
Marine Science (on Lee Stocking) for permission to use their mooring balls, we
were alerted by another boater that there was no one at the institute. This has been the site for the Caribbean
Marine Research Center and we toured the little facility two years ago when one
of the projects they were working on was the Lionfish. I am not sure what is going on but the
facilities is being rapped and pillaged, quickly becoming a useless mess. The first day we walked through Dan spotted a
pile of copper cable in an inconspicuous area that had been burned to remove
the coating and the next day it had been removed, most likely headed for a huge
payoff in scrap metal. The pallet of
computer gear setting outside seemed to sum up the sad state of affairs.
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| LEE STOCKING ISLAND AND THE PERRY INSTITUTE |
After a little research I found that the institute was
started by John H. Perry Jr. (1917-2006 ) of newspaper publication prominence. Cute story I read about his first personal
sized submersibles in the 1950s. In a garage workshop on Lake Worth in Florida,
he cobbled together his first project.
Good idea but not quite seaworthy.
The Perry Submersible Number 2, made with welded materials and more
research, responded to his commands and was declared a success. While still gloating he felt a sudden thump
of contact. He surfaced, threw open the
hatch and found that they had collided with a small passing fishing boat. Of course the poor guy couldn’t see the submerged
vessel so Mr. Perry gushed with apologizes, both men checked out their
respective crafts and then went their own ways.
Back on shore and a few hours later he received a phone call from the
U.S. Coast Guard wondering if he was possibly a threat to navigation because
they had just spent several hours rescuing a fisherman and raising his sunken
boat. Not only was his experimental
voyage a success in that it floated and submerged on command but he sank a boat
too!!! His insurance company saw no
humor in the situation and cancelled every casualty policy they had with Mr.
Perry.
In 1957 Mr. Perry and fellow investors purchased Lee
Stocking Island after investigating an unusual advertisement in the Wall Street
Journal. The island proved to be the
perfect setting for research that would range from the propagation of
shellfish, to the advanced forms of developing food fish, to studying ways of
controlling the voracious Lionfish. The
institute also promoted conservation and a self-sufficient environment by desalination
of sea water for drinking, using solar energy as well as wind to power the
island as much as possible.
On 1/17 we ventured from Lee Stocking Island, cruised by
some kind of happening at Children’s Bay then shot out Rat Cay Cut to make our
travels south out in the Bahama Sound. While the wind was definitely down, it
was an exciting ride when the outgoing tide met the incoming waves in the
cut. Hang on!!
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| ALGONQUIN IN THE CUT WITH THE CALM BANK BEHIND AND THE TURBULENT SOUND AHEAD |
Traveling down the eastern side of Great Exuma Island
brought us to George Town, population of about 1,000, and the newly reopened Great
Exuma Yacht Club. Eddie Irvine, former
Formula 1 race car participant has bought the old place and is struggling to
bring new life to it. The docks are
being repaired or replaced, the fuel services has been resumed, the bar and restaurant
are hopping and folks are showing up.
George Town is the place to provision up at the wonderful
Exuma Market, grab some cash at the Scotia or RBC banks, visit the laundry mat,
restock your liquor cabinet, shop the Bahamian Tel facility, hear some fun music and eat some good Bahamian
food. We did all of the above then headed
out on the1/20 to anchor for a few days at Red Shank Anchorage between Crab Cay, Moss Cay and George
Devine Cay. One of our afternoons was
spent at the Stocking Island’s Volleyball Beach where we chowed down on some
fresh made conch salad, watched volleyball and spent much of our time
gawking at the large number of boaters coming and going.
Back at the EYC docks on 1/24 to provision for our visit
from Steven, both Dan and I got haircuts and dined at the EYC‘s lovely dining room. Who knew?? Neither of us had ventured up to the dining
room but it was tastefully decorated and the food was way above par. I had the best Caesar Salad.
We are all provisioned, laundry done, and
cleaning complete. The Quest is ready to
make a run for it tomorrow, weather permitting. |
| GEORGE TOWN |
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